Senior Maki leads St. B's into season

And the way St. Bernard's veteran baseball coach Jim Beauregard looks at it, in order to win at least 10 games senior superstar Sean Maki will have to play a gigantic role in the Bernardians' quest to go tournament dancing after finishing 9-11 last season.

"On paper, if we can get Maki 10 to 12 starts and we play very well behind him and manufacture some runs, we feel Sean should give us seven wins, if not more, and then we need to get three more wins from other guys," said Beauregard, entering his 12th year as St. Bernard's head man. "We're confident that we can get there, but we also have to learn how to win the tight games."

Maki, of course, is a gifted three-sport athlete and can certainly handle the pressures of being a star player.

Maki, who will attend The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., on a baseball scholarship in the fall, is a premier power right-handed pitcher and a really dangerous threat in the batter's box.

"He's a tremendous leader, has great determination and a win-at-all-costs mentality. He's the total package for me."

Maki is one of St.

Advertisement

Bernard's few power bats, but Beauregard is toying with the idea of batting him leadoff to get him "as many at-bats as possible."

Junior lefty Dan Grammel pencils in as the No. 2 starter -- at least until sophomore righty Zach Merchant returns from a broken finger. Beauregard is hoping Merchant will be back by the end of April to toe the rubber.

Grammel, a strong contact hitter, will bat second.

Junior Joe Feckley, sophomore AJ Robichaud and freshmen Parker Bigelow and Ryan Fillebrown will pitch out of the bullpen.

"We've got a lot of untested people," Beauregard said. "We're hoping Maki and Grammel can take us deep into games."

St. Bernard's, which has only four returning starters and lost 12 seniors to graduation last year, should be strong up the middle with second baseman Nate Alfdorf and Connor Malone and Maki and Bigelow at shortstop.

"They all have good hands and good arms," Beauregard said. "They are all heady ballplayers."

Junior transfer Adam Hyde, from Lunenburg, has "good size and a very good arm" and will start behind the plate, while veteran Eric Viola mans the hot corner.

"Viola's a gritty kid with good range and a good arm," Beauregard said. "He's not afraid to go after the ball."

Grammel is the starter at first base and is backed up by Feckley and Robichaud.

In the outfield will be Mike Constantino in left, Brandon Ecklund in center and Robichaud, James Xarras and Bigelow in right field mix.

The heart of St. Bernard's lineup will be Feckley, Hyde, Robichaud and Constantino.

Ecklund and Viola add tremendous speed to the lineup.

"We'll be a small-ball team, that's for sure," St. B's skipper said. "We've got a decent power guy in Maki, but we also have a lot of speed. We're definitely going to have to manufacture runs this year. We're going to look to play solid defense behind some decent pitching and manufacture runs."

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sentinel and Enterprise. So keep it civil.